Walter b



(No Model.)

W. B. SILVERS. SPRING TRACE HOLDER.

No. 432,250. Patented July 15,1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VALTER B. SILVERS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TOCHARLES IV. BAGGERLY, OF SAME'PLACE.

SPRING TRACE-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 432,250, dated July 15,1890.

Application filed November 29, 1889. Serial No. 331,895. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER B. SILVERs, of Indianapolis, county ofMarion, and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Spring Trace-Holders; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer tolike parts.

My invention relates to the construction of spring trace-holders, and isan improvement on the invention for which Letters Patent No. 377,915were issued to me on the 14th day of r 5 February, 1888, and will beunderstood from the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of my device connectedto the cross-bar, the trace in place over the hook. Fig. 2 is a sideView of a modified form of my device, the cross-bar being in section.Fig. 3 is atop view of the same. Fig. 4 is a sideview of my device,showing one method of attachment to the cross-bar. Fig. 5 is a rear andFig. 6 is a front view of the device. Fig. 7 shows another method ofattachment to the cross-bar.

In detail my device consists of a frame-work f, having one or more spurs813 connected to the front thereof, and a projection or eye eat 0 thetop, which also serves as a guide, and

through which the trace passes.

h is the hook over which the trace is slipped, and has an upturned endor tang to keep the trace from coming off. This hook is formed 5integral with the disk d of a reel or spool which is composed of thisdisk d and a similar disk (1', connected together by a rod or bolt 1),and this bolt passes through the arms f of the frame, so that the reelor spool is j ournaled in the frame and moves upon the bolt 1), whichconnects it to the frame. A spring 8 is coiled about this spool betweenthe disks, the ends of the spring being connected to the disks on eachside through the eyes 6. Di-

5 rectly below the eye e is a screw-hole, through which a screw ispassed for securing the frame to the cross-bar of the shafts. The spikessp may be made to enter the shaft, as shown in Fig. 4, or passeddirectly beneath it, and in the latter case an iron strap will befastened underneath the crossbar to make a bearing for the spur, asshown in Fig. 7. The trace 1? of the harness passes through the eye e,and extending backward is slipped over the tang of the hook h, and whenthe frame f is firmly secured to the cross-bar pulling upon the tracewill draw the hook forward into the position shown in the dotted linesin Fig.4, and the eye 6 will operate not only as a guide for the trace,but also as a stop for the hook,lim- 6o iting its movement in thatdirection and preventing any undue strain upon the spring. The spring iscoiled about the spool so that its tension will normally draw the hookback to the position shown in the full lines in Fig. 4, and this tensionis constantly exerted against any pull upon the hook h. The connectionof the trace to the vehicle is therefore always elastic and readilygives under any required strain,and no singletree is nec- 7o essary.

In Figs. 2 and 3 a modified form of the device is shown, wherein the eye6 is removed and the short stop st takes it place. The other parts ofthe device are substantially the same. 7 5 The frame-work f carries aspool, about which is coiled a spring, and a hook it is connected to onedisk. The ends of the spring are fastened in opposite disks, and the rodor bolt connecting the disks of the spool has bearings in the arms ofthe framework, and the device is connected to the cross-bar by a bolt,as shown in Fig. 3. st is a rear stop, which is used to limit thebackward movement of the hook.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is the following:

1. A spring trace-holder comprising a frame f, a spool having disks (1d, journaled in the frame, a spring 3, coiled about such spool, a hookit, connected with one disk thereof, front and rear stops secured to theshafts and crossbar, and the frame-work also connected to such.crossbar, substantially as shown and described.

2. A spring trace holder comprising a frame-work fastened to thecross-bar of a vehicle, a spring coiled about a spool journaled in suchframe-work, a hook connected thereto, the tension of the springoperating 10o front and rear stops, to limit the movement of the hook ineither direction, fastened at suitable points upon the shaft orcrossbar,

normally to throw the hook backward from the cross-bar, suchtrace-holder having a l ront stop sf, connected therewith, formed inloan eye a, through Which the trace passes,all com substantially as shownand described.

5 bined substantially as shown and described. In witness whereof I havehereunto set my I5 3. A spring trace holder comprising a hand this 20thday of: November, 188.). frame-work, a spool having a spring coiled\VALTER B. SILVERS. about it and a hook connected with it journaled insuch frame-Work, all connected tol IO the shafts or cross-bar of theveliicle,\vitl1 Witnesses:

(J. P. JACOBS, U. W. BAGGERLY.

